Us Against the Universe
by ladie red
Summary: TW/DW Crossover. Spoilers for TW 2X13. References to Series 4 of DW. My Series 4 finale. The TARDIS is dumped unceremoniously on Captain Jack Harkness doorstep, empty of all life. Where's the Doctor, where's Donna and who is that mysterious blonde woman?
1. Emergency Programme Four

**Spoilers for the Torchwood Series 2 finale...read at your own peril. This chapter is one of the most Torchwood-ey, it's mostly Doctor Who-ey for the rest of the time...lol! My version of 4x11 onwards. Includes reference and ideas from what was seen in Partners in Crime. Will feature Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Martha, Donna, Rose and the Doctor. Tell me what you think, I'm not too sure.**

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Captain Jack Harkness sat in his office, immersed in a pile of UNIT personnel profiles.

This had been so much easier when it had been somebody else's job.

Gwen and Ianto were fortunate in that respect. For them, the loss of Owen and Toshiko had meant losing two respected colleagues, two beloved friends.

For Jack it was another pair of lives gone because of his interference and after over a hundred years of such experiences he was used to this deep feeling of despair. Tosh and Owen had been the first people he himself had recruited for Torchwood. They had been the first to die, and the first to replace. It had been different with Suzie.

Suzie had been there; well, not nearly as long as he had, but long enough to have been employed by Jack's predecessor. Suzie had killed innocents before trying to kill Gwen, had committed suicide to no lasting effect and had tried to kill Gwen yet again before Jack had finished her for good. It was a completely different type of sadness he felt when thinking of Suzie.

It all came down to responsibility.

Gray had been Jack's responsibility and although he didn't even want to think of Gray right now, that, in turn had been the downfall of Owen and Toshiko.

So it was entirely one Captain Jack Harkness's fault. He could not place the blame on anyone higher and unfortunately, contradiction to popular belief, someone always had to take the blame. It was his fault, he quite simply accepted that, but he accepted this only because he ignored the guilt, ignored his brother, lying frozen in the Hub for all of time. Ignored his two employees, Tosh and Owen, dead forever. If not, instead of the norm self-destructing (which would be far more welcoming, if rather cowardly), he would instead drown himself in desolation for all of eternity.

Because life was life.

And life loved Captain Jack Harkness so very much. For life, Jack Harkness was like your favourite childhood teddy bear. Life wanted him to stay with it forever, regardless of what condition, from generation to generation, from century to century, he would be passed down, each little wear or tear giving him a story that would be remembered until the end of time; until the end of the line itself.

So, ignoring the latest wears and tears, with a firm jaw and a mind set firmly on the future, Jack flicked unenthusiastically through the UNIT hardcopies.

He didn't actually have permission to view these files stamped 'TOP SECRET'. UNIT didn't really like Jack; he was an unnecessary problem that would never, ever go away. Everything at UNIT was computerised nowadays but there were always compulsory hardcopy backups; supposedly down in a military basement somewhere gathering dust. Nobody noticed when that irritating man from Torchwood overrode the security settings and stole the backups that nobody would ever need, and nobody would ever look for.

That left Jack with several hundred extremely helpful stacks of paperwork now stored in the Torchwood basement that were a bugger to stifle through but were a good place to start when you wanted to employ someone with half a brain and an open mind.

That's how he had noticed Toshiko; on a prisoner list, stolen from UNIT on one of his annual trips to that forgotten library in the UNIT basement. The mention of a sonic device had caused him to stop, but when he read further; realising her genius, realising what she had done for her mother…..but, enough of that now, enough of the past.

This decade's defenders of the earth sounded pretty decent. Gazing down at the employee records, Jack was sure if he gave any of these people half a chance they would eventually be quite suitable for the job needed here in Cardiff. Yet he couldn't bring himself to read their profiles. He didn't want to, he didn't particularly care.

On autopilot he sifted through over four hundred profiles, employees, prisoners, people of interest. He had sent Gwen and Ianto out to check out the Rift levels at the recent explosion sites dotted around the city, expecting them to be gone for a few hours. It wasn't until he heard the familiar cog-door siren go off as it opened did he realise he had actually been sitting there for going on three hours and couldn't recall one name or one note worthy detail about anything that he had been reading through. Gwen's voice came from downstairs,

"Jack!"

He didn't respond, deep in thought about nothing in particular and a moment or two later both Gwen and Ianto entered his office looking slightly bedraggled but focused.

"What's all this?" Gwen asked, gesturing around at the various stacks of paper sitting around the room and strewn on the desk and across the floor.

"What…." Jack gazed up at her, only just realising the mess, "oh, nothing."

Ianto looked from Jack's empty stare to the floor before shaking his head and saying quite evenly, "You know, I am most definitely not cleaning this up. It took me two weeks of considerable effort to categorise it, before then moving it all downstairs. I refuse to do it again."

Jack let out a snort and finally turned to look at them properly, swivelling his chair slightly.

Feeling curious, Gwen bent and picked up a file off the floor, "But what is it?"

"Our UNIT database." Ianto said with a sigh, a slightly resigned look on his face as he automatically began clearing up.

Jack finally stood, hands on hips, glaring at Gwen who was opening the folder in her hand, "Note the word's '_TOP SECRET'_," he said in a semi-mocking anger, snatching it off her and throwing it down on top of the desk.

"Oh, yes, so sorry,"

She sounded apologetic but her face betrayed her, a smirk playing on her lips as she tapped the top of the pile, "Yet did you noticed the words, _'For authorised UNIT personnel only'_," she raised her eyebrows at him, "since when did you work for UNIT?"

"God knows with him." Ianto muttered as he stood with a pile in his hands and placed it on a shelf. He gazed around the room for a moment then asked the obvious question, "And what precisely are you doing with all this?"

Jack was silent for a moment, glancing between his two remaining colleagues; he leant against his desk for a moment, debating internally then responded tonelessly, "Looking at replacements for Owen and Toshiko."

He carefully gauged each of their reactions, not sure what the prospect of replacements would mean for them both. Ianto froze, half bent down to pick up more paper, before straitening stiffly. There was silence as Gwen clenched her knuckles, her eyes suddenly jet black and locked on Jack's. She looked miserably angry at him and he braced himself for a Gwen-like breakdown.

"It's a bit soon, isn't it?" Ianto asked quietly. Jack gently eased his eyes from Gwen as she crossed her arms and stared at him mercilessly, waiting for a response, her jaw moving slightly but her mouth remaining shut.

Jack sighed, "The truth is, any day now something else might happen, something significant, and we were barely getting by as it was. We need to get an actual team together. It can't be three against the world."

He dared to glance at Gwen again and she held his look for a moment before the fight quite suddenly went out of her and a tear leaked out of the corner of one eye, she nodded slightly, arms now not crossed but hugging herself, and, taking Jack quite by surprise, she said quietly, "What about Martha?"

It was the logical choice, yet when it came to matters of the heart, Gwen was not logical. Coming from Gwen, this demonstration of practicality in their present situation worried Jack slightly but in all honesty she made perfect sense.

They all liked Martha, Martha liked them. She was a doctor, she knew more about this kind of work than many of the others at UNIT. Most importantly she had what Jack classified as the 'Doctor' qualification, meaning not only did they share it in common but that if you had survived time in the TARDIS you could survive anything.

Yet, somehow Jack was hesitant to hire her. Perhaps it was because of that one fact they shared in common. That one man that would not let Jack hear the end of it if anything happened to her.

The sudden thought of that drained him and Jack felt very tired. The wariness washed through him in waves and although Gwen and Ianto were staring at him expectantly, waiting for an answer, he decided against trying to voice his non-existent reasoning and simply changed the subject, asking unenthusiastically, "How's the city doing? Anything residual with the damage to the Rift?"

Gwen shifted into work mode, seemingly happy for the distraction and pushed her hair out of her face, focusing on her job, not Jack's, "There's nothing lasting. The readings show that the Rift is slowly starting to settle down again…the city on the other hand….."

"They reckon they're up to £400 million in damages," Ianto cut in with a note of false cheeriness, "and then we ran into the mayor's entourage down at the now nearly non-existent council buildings. Apparently you're ignoring his phone calls." Ianto shook his head disapprovingly, "He wants to talk to you. Something about taking responsibility, paying for damages, actually explaining what happened." He checked these off of his fingers.

"Meetings with Mayors never end well," Jack said sourly, glancing at the time, then at Gwen, "you're good with that stuff Gwen, you go. And just make sure you say '_no_' to anything they ask fo…."

He was interrupted by a sudden sharp wailing shrieking siren, waving in and out of volume and making normal speech impossible. He automatically put his hands to his ears, face screwed up in pain, his ears ringing "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

A resounding alarm rang throughout the Hub, ear splitting in decibels which consequently resulted in the pterodactyl waking up suddenly and taking flight in panic, swooping far too close to the ground, which add to the general mayhem as the three remaining Torchwood members gave each other looks of confusion before simultaneously charging out of the office, ducking quickly as Myfanwy flew dangerously close to their heads.

Ianto raced down to Tosh's computer as it flashed red, pulling up the security programming, "Some sort of alarm," he hollered, "something's breached the Hub's security."

"Can we please turn it off before that stupid winged beast crashes into the rift manipulator and splits open the city!" Gwen cried her eyes following the crazed dino-bird as it flew record breaking panicked laps around the Hub, squawking in indignation.

"I'm trying!" Ianto yelled back, fingers whizzing across the keyboard.

Jack glanced furiously over Ianto's shoulder, trying to decipher what was happening when he froze, every bit of his body tingling.

For a moment he wasn't quite sure why he froze, but it took only a millisecond for Jack to locate the source of his alertness. Any normal person would not have been able to disassociate this particular noise from the orchestral mayhem all around but Jack's ears had had over a hundred years of practise waiting to hear this particular sound.

"Ianto, turn it off NOW!"

Gwen glanced at him in alarm, confused at the tone of his voice and Ianto's fingers moved even faster. Jack couldn't be sure, but he swore that over the top of that stupid alarm he could hear something, something electrifyingly spectacular.

"Got it." Ianto said, hitting '_enter'_ and immediately the noise dropped, leaving an eerie silence save for the odd squawk of indignation coming from Myfanwy and the…..

"Jack, what…."

"Hush," he put a finger to Gwen's lips, all his senses reaching out desperately, grasping longingly for that one sound.

And there it was. A smile spread across his lips, the first since Tosh and Owen had died, as his ears finally identified the last droning notes of a great engine. His finger stayed at Gwen's lips for a moment until he was certain there was nothing left to hear.

"Pull up all of the surveillance." He finally said softly, removing his finger from out of Gwen's face and placing a hand on Ianto's shoulder.

Ianto glanced at him, "Do you know what it….."

Jack gave his shoulder a squeeze, "Just do it."

Ianto quickly brought up the first six views and Jack let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding in as the middle screen showed the cells, four empty, one with a couple of forlorn Weevils and one with a big blue box sitting in it.

"Oh my god," Ianto exclaimed, zooming into the particular camera point and turning the chair to look at the smile plastered on Jack's face, "It's him."

Ianto looked half awed and Jack looked ecstatic. Gwen look confused, "Who?"

"The Doctor." Ianto said bluntly, sounding slightly shocked, slightly jealous.

Gwen immediately recongised the emphasis behind the title rounded on Jack, "_Your_ doctor?"

"My Doctor." Jack nodded, already moving. Gwen looked at Ianto for a moment who was gazing after Jack, a look of sadness on his face. He glanced at Gwen, frowned and stood, straightening his suit with a determined expression before taking a deep breath and following Jack.

"Ianto, wait," Gwen hurried after him looking hurt and left behind. Ianto glanced after her but kept moving, heading for the cells after Jack. Gwen found her frustration growing, "I thought this doctor was a secret we all weren't supposed to know, except all of a sudden I now feel out of the bloody loop!"

Ianto finally slowed slightly so Gwen could catch up and together they walked down the hallway towards the cells as he tried to explain it to her, "He's a secret we all should know. He's the reason for our existence. Back before Canary Wharf every Torchwood employee was expected to know as much as possible about this Doctor……which actually wasn't very much at all. The Doctor is considered a threat to mankind, so says Queen Victoria in the Torchwood charter, yet, somehow, we apparently have the wrong impression."

Ianto gave her a shrug and he slid his security pass through the lock as they entered the cell block, finding Jack punching in the combination code to the cell in particular and hurrying in, "Doctor?"

As he banged against the TARDIS door, guilt suddenly cascaded over him as he realised the reason he was filled with such joy and excitement. Here was the TARDIS, and whenever the TARDIS turned up Jack would drop everything to join the Doctor. Normally that had been all right. Yet last time he had left behind a team of people that needed him; had needed him when he wasn't there and now here was the TARDIS again. It was a ready made excuse to forget about Gwen and Ianto, forget about Torchwood and Cardiff, forget about Gray and, most of all, forget about Owen and Toshiko. With these thoughts and the longing temptation of just disappearing into the TARDIS forever swirling through his mind the sudden presence of Gwen and Ianto standing behind him shook him loose of this lovely daydream and with it the grim realisation that this could and would only ever be a visit by the TARDIS, not a pick up point.

Gwen did not notice his internal struggle, only managing to simply stare at the TARDIS in a fair sense of wonderment. The words displayed along the top read, 'Police Public Call Box' but Gwen couldn't remember call boxes, either blue or red for that matter, ever having the ability to transport itself into the Torchwood Hub. She glanced at Ianto for his reaction as he stood leaning against the glass door watching Jack as he resumed his banging, calling out a final, desperate, "Doctor?" to no lasting effect.

"You know; some people go a whole lifetime desperate for a glimpse of this thing." Ianto said simply, "Yet I see it twice."

Gwen raised her eyebrows at him, confused and Ianto smiled, "He was there. The Doctor. That day at Canary Wharf, he saved us. He saved us all."

Jack grunted and took a step back, hands on his hips and said absently, "He does that quite a lot yet we never seem to notice."

His common sense told him that the Doctor should have opened the door by now and his instinct told him something was wrong, "Damnit!" He kicked out at the TARDIS but all that left him was a sore foot and he immediately sighed, putting a hand against the wood, patting it slightly, almost apologetically, before reaching with his other hand to pull at something around his throat.

It took a moment to unfasten the chain around his neck and to take hold of the key hanging off it, but once he had, as if well practised, he slotted the key into the TARDIS's lock and turned it.

Ianto straighten up suddenly, slightly taken aback, "You have a key?"

Ignoring that foreboding feeling niggling at the back of his mind, Jack gave Ianto a false grin, "Oh yes, I have a key."

And he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Entering the TARDIS all over again always brought a rush of emotions. Memoires flashed before his eyes; Rose and the other Doctor, dancing and spinning, the TARDIS full of life, then the dangerous hybrid paradox monster the Master had turned it into, the Doctor's glorious machine oozing in death and destruction. But of course, that was the past and now the familiar long brown overcoat was hanging over the handrail and the TARDIS hummed happily, peaceful and content, nothing apparently amiss. Yet Jack still felt uneasy.

"Jesus Christ."

Thus was Gwen's initial response as she and Ianto followed him inside, staring around in amazement as Jack put a hand on the Doctor's overcoat, calling out again, "Doctor?"

A voice answered, causing them all to whirl around in alarm, "This is Emergency Programme Four."

Standing behind them stood the Doctor, or rather, a holographic version of him.

"Jack," the hologram seemed to stare right at Jack himself, the hologram a perfect image of the Doctor, his glasses perched on his nose and his hands resting in the pockets of his blue pinstriped suit, "I apologise for the intrusion and the lack of helpfulness in the next statement." He did look rather apologetic, rather weary too as he moved a hand to his brow and pinched his forefingers together, "You see, something's gone wrong."

Jack gave a snort, and the Doctor continued, an understanding smile on his face, "Sorry Captain, but if you're hearing this message then something has gone very, very wrong. Well, more so than usual."

Ianto and Gwen watched this one way conversation in silence, blinking in confusion as Jack snorted again and the Doctor rolled his eyes, "If something happens to me, something out of either the TARDIS's control or mine, I have programmed it to deliver itself to you in Cardiff. I quite reasonably decided what better place to hide the most advanced piece of technology on earth than with a man who has his own top secret underground facility and can look after my machine forever.

Now, don't worry about me," He waved a hand, as if shooing the thought away before he paused and frowned, only just then thinking about it properly, "well, no, actually, do worry about me but only after you can confirm that who ever I am travelling with by this stage is safe."

His slight grin became serious and the intensity of his gaze peeking over the top his glasses. Gwen couldn't drag her eyes away, mesmerised by the intensity as the hologram continued, "If the TARDIS locks into this programme then whoever I am with automatically gets transported back to Earth to the closest possible time. A safety measure. Promise me Jack, promise you'll take care of them," the serious look vanished and he raised his eyebrows gleefully, "and then the TARDIS is yours!"

The hologram shrugged and shook its head, a smirk upon its lips as it scuffed its foot on the grate floor, "Yet if I give you my truly magnificent ship you have to promise me that the first thing you'll do will not be travelling anywhere near the Edbar cluster. I _know _that's the first thing you'll think of, but woman like that are most certainly not permitted on my ship." He snorted and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before locking eyes with Jack again, "Oh, just have fun Captain, god knows we used to."

And the hologram self combusted, Ianto and Gwen immediately turning to Jack. Jack stood staring at the now empty spot where the Doctor once stood beginning to realise what several of the things the Doctor had just said actually meant.

Firstly; the false sense of bravado in his voice seemed to indicate that 'something is wrong' meant that either the Doctor was dead, close to death or the universe was about to implode and there was nothing anyone could do about it. None of those choices were good.

Secondly, the Doctor had given Jack the TARDIS.

Originally not being able to trust the Captain with his own measly Vortex Manipulator, the Doctor had now technically given Jack full power over space and time. Something meant only for the Timelords.

But if the Doctor thought himself dead, then there were no Timelords left and Captain Jack Harkness, the man that could never die, one of the few that could work the big blue box; well, it had seemed like the Doctor had passed the whole of time and space on to Jack.

"No way." Jack stated simply as he came to this revelation.

He could do it; he would do it if the situation arose, but most definitely not if he could help it and especially if there was still the minutest possibility that the Doctor was still alive.

Jack shook his head, realising he was still staring at the empty spot in the air and that Gwen and Ianto were still there, in the TARDIS, staring at him.

"Jack?" Gwen asked, slightly alarmed and very much out of the loop.

Jack shook his head, ignoring her and reaching across to pull the console monitor to face him, "No way," he repeated, furiously getting into action, "sorry Doctor, but you are _so_ not getting off that easy!

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	2. The TARDIS

**Sorry for the delay, it took me a week or so to figure out where I was going with this. Now I have a rough plan and am about up to chapter four.**

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Jack quickly pulled up the TARDIS database, searching for some mention of what had happened to its occupants and how exactly to fix it. What would be handy was a complete A to Z for when things go wrong. From simple run of the mill Alien Attacks through to the Zephyrs of the wild Zebu in the skies of Zerania.

Yet remember, life doesn't like Captain Jack Harkness so there was no self help guide saved onto the TARDIS's memory for easy access. Instead fifty percent of its information was a pile of mumbo jumbo in the Doctor's native Gallifreian that the TARDIS apparently didn't like to translate and was impossible to make sense of if you weren't anything but a nine hundred year old Timelord.

It was while trying to decipher both the Gallifreian and the nonsensical English that Jakc's eyes drifted across the console and he spotted a mobile phone in amongst what looked to be the insides of a VCR. Looking from the phone to the console monitor, the realisation that human knowledge was, gasp, sometimes more helpful than a machine's, finally hit him.

"Ianto," he said slowly, looking up at his own companion for a moment, a million other thoughts swirling through his head, none of them all that positive.

Ianto dragged his eyes away from the looming coral ceiling begrudgingly, "Sir?"

"Call the first speed dial number for me." He had a good hunch as to who was on the other end and Jack suddenly felt a lot calmer as he held the phone up with one hand, the other continuing to type, his eyes returning to the monitor.

Ianto glanced at Gwen with raised eyebrows but did so.

"And put it on speaker," Jack added, never looking up.

Ianto and Gwen continued to share a look as the dial tone rang throughout the TARDIS, a silent battle being fought between them as they rallied to understand what Jack had got himself into this time.

Ianto was quite happy just to take a step back, to have half a chance to marvel at everything around him and let it all play out. Gwen, on the other hand, wanted in on the secret, wanted to stop feeling so very frustrated as Jack's past pushed itself into their lives once again. Of course, Gwen couldn't hold onto these thoughts much longer, not even to pause and be awed at the fact that they were standing in a police box that was quite plainly bigger on the inside than outside, so, as the dial tone continued to ring, she finally burst out, "Jack, _please_, what's going on, who are you call..."

But the phone picked up before she could finish and there was a crackle before a familiar female voice spoke, "Doctor?"

Ianto stared down at the phone in his hand in shock, quite nearly dropping it.

"Martha?" Gwen exclaimed without a second thought, staring from Jack, to the phone, to the spot the Doctor had just occupied and back at Jack as the revelation hit her.

There was a split second silence down the other end of the line before Doctor Martha Jones responded, hesitant and immediately worried, "Gwen...what, where's the Doc...is Jack with you?"

"I'm here, Martha." Jack spoke with a wary smile, finally glancing up, smiling warmly at the phone in Ianto's hand.

"Jack?"

Her voice was cautious and worried, the bustle of UNIT HQ in the background, questions fighting to make their way out of her mouth, "I didn't expect you to go with….you're with the team?" she trailed off as her mind caught up with her mouth, finally demanding quickly, "What's happened, where's the Doctor?"

Jack sighed, only now letting the worry show on his face, "I don't know, Martha, I'm completely in the dark. The TARDIS just materialised in the Hub and...the Doctor is gone."

There was an intake of breath as Martha took in the context of Jack's tone, "What do you mean, gone?" she exclaimed.

Jack stood, gazing around the console room, a sad smile on his face, "The TARDIS is empty, Martha, empty."

There was a pause then all of a sudden the background noise behind Martha vanished and she demanded in one fast breath, "Where's Donna?"

"Who?"

"Donna," Martha repeated quickly, "Donna Noble, she travels with him."

Jack turned back to the console, bent and brought up what you could roughly call the TARDIS's travel log. The last entry before the TARDIS had found itself in the Hub was a transmat, recorded only two minutes before.

"I think I know where she is, I'll find her. Then I'll find him."

He paused for a moment, standing and taking the phone off Ianto, turning it off speaker and putting it to his ear, "Are you…" he bit his lip and glance across at Gwen and Ianto, wondering whether it was entirely fair to ask her to drop everything yet again and take one more trip in the TARDIS. Nevertheless it had to be asked, "Are you..._game_?"

Both Gwen and Ianto met his eyes squarely and Martha snorted, her response immediate, "Oh yes, I'm game." A black laugh escaped her, "Off to save the Doctor? Oh, it does make a change."

Jack grinned and turned back to the monitor, hitting _enter_, the transmat location details appearing on the screen, "You're in London, at HQ, at the moment, aren't you? I can send the TARDIS to Donna's coordinates. Can you get to..." he froze as he read the exact location, his throat suddenly dry, "...get to the Powell Estate as soon as possible?"

"Done, see you there." and she hung up.

Jack took a breath and snapped the phone shut.

The Powell Estate.

The last time he had spent time there he had seen a frantic Jackie Tyler, a depressed Mickey Smith, and what seemed to have been half of the London police asking questions and handing out missing persons flyers. Unable to resist meeting the infamous Jackie Tyler and taking the surrounding chaos as cover, Jack had flashed his ID to the DI in charge and had actually sat down with Jackie, assuring her that her daughter would be fine and listening intently as the worried mother told the strange, kind man in the military coat the escapades of her daughter, a young Rose Tyler.

Jack had lost track of the timeline after that, unsure where Rose was after the Doctor had regenerated, so didn't dare risk going back, afraid of challenging the unknown and bumping into them by accident.

Regardless he'd gone back once more, after reading Rose and Jackie's names on Canary Wharf's list of the dead, and had just stood there in the children's playground for a moment, crying freely, before wiping his eyes and turning back to help clear up the mess at Torchwood One.

It was fitting that the emergency transmat was fixed on the Estate, the Doctor had intended on keeping her safe, of sending her home. Of course, it was too late to save Rose; but maybe not for this Donna.

Captain Harkness was lost in these thoughts for only a moment before the phone began to ring and vibrate in his hand. Rather surprised, he quickly flipped it open and immediately heard a crude female voice holler down the line, never pausing for breath, "Now, before you start rambling and giving out lame excuses that nobody else understands, could you possibly pause for a moment, draw a breath and please try just to logically and simply explaining to me...WHAT THE HELL I'M SUDDENLY DOING HERE!"

Jack could only blink, more than slightly taken back, glancing at Gwen who raised her eyebrows at him. It took him a moment to respond, "Ahh...Donna? Donna Noble?"

There was silence then, "Who are you?" the woman spat, "Where's the Doctor?"

Jack breathed a sigh of relief, "Listen, Donna, my name is Jack, Captain Jack Harkness…."

"I don't care if you're the captain of the flipping Vatican guard….where's the Doctor? You shouldn't have this phone, _nobody_ else should have this phone so I'll ask again; what have you done with him?"

Jack felt his temper flare, "Look..."

"_What_. Have. _You._ Done_. With._ Him?" she demanded, cutting him off before he had even had a chance to explain.

"Donna, I haven't done anything. Look, I'm a friend, I'm in the TARDIS but…"

"So was I!" she interrupted yet again and even though Jack had never met the woman she was more than slightly getting on his nerves, "One minute he's going on about undefined nuclear partisional thingys and I was trying to pay attention…I really was, when all of a sudden…._poof_….and here I am. It's like last Christmas all over again!"

Jack sighed and leant against the console, rubbing a hand over his eyes, "Okay, okay. Donna, do you know where you are?"

"London." She said flatly

Jack sighed, resisting a roll of the eyes, "Okay; _yeah_, that's a pretty big city, Donna. You wanna give me a bit of help here, whereabouts?"

"Oh, I dunno." she responded impatiently, "Listen where's the Doctor? No offence to you mate, but I have no clue who you are, just put him on and…."

"Are you in an Estate?" Jack demanded, his temper getting the better of him, "Powell Estate?"

A pause, then, "Yeah, yeah, I suppose I am. 'Dunno about Powell, but it's definitely an Estate."

"Good, listen, just please, stay where you are and the TARDIS will come pick you up."

"Fine, FINE! But you tell mister high and mighty Timelord that I'm not finished with him yet! I do not appreciate being teleported without consent!"

And she hung up.

Jack simply stared at the phone for a moment before throwing it back down on the console and giving his head a shake.

He made to turn back to the monitor but the feel of Gwen and Ianto's glares on his back stopped him. Mid-turn he faced them, feeling rather guilty for leaving them in the dark, "I'm sorry, you deserve an explanation."

"Yes, I think we do." Gwen snapped.

Jack smiled at her, wondering whether wording it differently would lessen her reaction, "I know I said I'd never leave you like that again. But this is important."

"We're coming with you." Ianto said immediately.

Jack shook his head sadly, "Cardiff is a mess, somebody has to..."

"UNIT's good at city wide disasters," Gwen said bluntly, "We just need to send their clean up team in. Like you said, it's not like you actually want to bother reasoning with the Mayor."

Jack ignored that very good point and tried again, "It's our city, Gwen and honestly; I don't really trust some of the idiots at UNIT to..."

"The Doctor needs saving." Ianto cut in, "He's the priority. We're coming with you."

"Look, Martha and I will handle it. I need you two to..."

"No, Jack, no." Gwen interjected, giving him a long, hard look, "It's time we were in on the secret."

She shrugged, hugging her arms against her body, "Plus, by the sounds of it, if we don't find this Doctor, you won't ever come back."

Her eyes dared him to argue the point as Ianto crossed his arms and leant on the handrail, his eyebrows raised at Jack, "He left you the TARDIS, the whole of time and space. Don't think we don't realise what that means."

"We're coming." Gwen repeated.

Jack looked from the sheer determination on Gwen's face; the stubborn need to protect and help shining through her angry facade, to the smooth calmness on Ianto's, the manservant showing an inner authority and finality that was far beyond his job description.

Jack Harkness looked across at his remaining team members and didn't have enough anger left in him to fight them, "I...I don't..." he sighed, his facade crumbling, finally giving them a half shrug and a heartfelt smile, "Thank you."

Gwen looked pleased with herself, "So that's settled then. What can we do to help?"

Jack frowned, glancing from her to the console, a sense of dread filling him as he took in the many buttons and levers to choose from.

Taking a breath, he rubbed his hands together and motioned to Gwen "Right, you take this dial here. Ianto, hover over this button. If everything goes dark, press it or we'll simply tumble out of the time vortex and you'll experience a rather horrible death." he paused and gave a nonchalant shrug, "I'll probably experience several."

Ianto glanced at him with an astounded expression, quickly demanding, "You do know what you're doing, don't you?"

Jack snorted, "No, not really." He took hold of a lever and turned to look at them with a crazed grin, the sudden spirit of a TARDIS trip infecting him once again, unable to do anything but laugh at their horrified faces, "And here we go!"

And he pulled the lever down.

* * *

**Chapter Three is finished, it just needs editing. Hopefully you'll see it this time next week. R&R!**


	3. The Doctor and the Noble One

**Hear you go. Not very impressed with this chapter. I like the Donna part, Martha...well, I'm not a Martha fan anyway. Donna's the Doctor's best friend and Rose is his Rose. Martha, well, Martha was treated horribly by the writers both in S3, S4 and Torchwood and I sadly never warmed to her because of it.**

* * *

Martha Jones threw a wad of cash at the cab driver and hopped out of the Taxi, pulling her black coat closer as she stepped onto the footpath and entered the council grounds of the Powell Estate. As she picked up her pace the wind continued to howl, the sky dangerously dark and threatening rain as a group of teenagers sauntered past, hoods up against the bitter weather.

With her ears open wide to any familiar sound, she made her way through the Estate, head a brim with questions. The Doctor had sent the TARDIS to Jack; which meant that the Doctor was in trouble, out there anywhere or in anywhen and he needed to be rescued. Martha wondered that if maybe she had been with him, whatever had happened could have been avoided, maybe if she'd stayed, she could have….no. The Doctor and Donna were fine together, Martha had a life here now, there was no point longing for that adrenaline rush.

She wanted to keep her feet firmly grounded on the earth, she had Tom, she had her work at UNIT, life carried on. The Doctor flitted through on occasion and that was just enough. But now, when the Doctor didn't flit through, when he was nowhere to be found; well, that was a problem Martha couldn't ignore.

She found herself in the middle of a basketball court, the court lines very nearly vanished, the baskets themselves rusting and leaning crooked, large sprawling words of graffiti spelt out across the length of the concrete ground. She gazed around for a moment wondering her next move before setting out towards the council buildings themselves, coming to an immediate sudden stop when she caught ear of that oh so familiar sound howling with the wind. The sound of the universe; music to her ears.

Furiously searching for the source of this ranging noise, she finally managed to see the blinking light of the TARDIS appear nearly camouflaged behind the children's playground.

Her first thought puzzled her because, strangely enough, the 1950's police box actually fitted here. It almost belonged in this aging, simple environment, it's vibrant colour looking casually part of the playground, with it's wailing sound very nearly unnoticed behind the noise of the televisions blaring up in the flats, the people yelling at each other about the various woes of day to day life and then that deathly cold wind, so late in the year, which all together, hugged the magnificent time machine snugly.

No sooner had the TARDIS fully materialised, Martha having taken no more than a step in its direction when the door banged open and a rather recognisable figure spilled out, his large navy coat sticking to his body against the wind.

Jack Harkness spotting her immediately and she gave him a heartfelt smile as he ducked under the red and blue monkey bars, and met her at the edge of the bark boundary, enveloping her in a hug, announcing with joyous feeling, "Oh, I've missed you around Doc Jones!"

Martha gave him a gentle smile but pulled herself away from him, surveying him now with a sad frown on her face. She opened her mouth to speak but Jack cut in, the sudden closed mask of his face signalling that he already knew what she was going say and didn't want to hear a word of it, instead trying to avoid the subject; his eyes searching behind her and a slight edge to his voice, "Have you found Donna yet?"

Martha shook her head absently, trying to meet Jack's eyes, "No, Jack...I," she bit her lip and placed a hand on his arm, her heart throbbing painfully in her chest, "Jack, listen, I...I heard what happened...Owen and Toshiko..." she trailed off, helpless, her voice becoming a pathetic whisper as Jack's eyes flashed and his expression hardened, "I'm sorry," she said simply, "I'm so sorry."

Jack shook his head defiantly, glancing straight over top her head, searching for Donna, "Let's just focus on finding Donna."

It was now Martha's turn to shake her head, "No, Jack, I..."

"The Doctor, Martha. Donna and the Doctor. That's all that matters for the moment."

Martha sighed, but realised it was not the time and place to push the subject, instead, "I organised a UNIT team to go down to Cardiff for you. When I realised you'd brought Gwen, I logically assumed you'd brought Ianto too. Somebody has to clean up down there...I sent the lackey's...hope you don't mind."

Jack gave her a thankful smile, both for her quick thinking and the change of subject. Martha gave him a grim nod of acceptance, then frowned, glancing back at the TARDIS, "So where _are_ Gwen and Ianto then?"

Jack snorted, a small smile returning to his face, "They're in there trying to sort the ceiling from the floor." He said, throwing his head in the direction of the TARDIS. "They've never traveled by police box before, let alone with my dismal driving skills."

Martha smirked, remembering her many rough journeys in the blue box, "Bit of a bumpy flight was it?"

Jack shrugged, hands in his pockets, "More so than usual. I've never actually used the TARDIS without the Doctor before. Toshiko would have been a help; she would have been able to figure..." he realised what he was saying and the remainder of the sentence died in his throat. He sighed and shook his head, eyes darting around the estate again, quickly changing the subject, "So what does this Donna look like?"  
Martha gave him a sympathetic look but didn't press the point, instead pulling her mobile phone from her pocket, "Flaming red hair, hard to miss." She looked up at Jack with a grin, "Although, you'll hear her before you see her."

Jack snorted, remembering the woman on the phone previously, "Yeah, I could believe that."

Martha put the phone to her ear and waited as the dial tone rang. A moment later Donna picked up, breathing down the phone in what was close to barely disgusted hysterics, "Martha, perfect timing. See, I'm starting to _panic_ slightly here, the Doctor's gone...this man called, oh, I don't know, _god knows _who he is but...where are you? Can you pick me up at the Powell Estate? That's in London…somewhere. You're in London, aren't you?"

"Donna, I'm already here, at the estate, with Jack. Trust him, he's a good friend of ours."

Donna snorted, "Sure, whatever, but where are you then?"

Martha blinked and glanced at Jack, feeling slightly uneasy "Didn't you hear the TARDIS, we're outside the playground."

* * *

Donna Noble stood in the near center of the basketball court, looking across at the child's playground with a frown. She stood there for a moment, sensibly trying to reason logic before slowly turning on the spot, asking Martha calmly, "So how many playgrounds are there exactly?"

There was silence from Martha as Donna moved across the court towards the flats, wondering if there was an area behind the building. Static came from her cellphone and a moment later a familiar american accent spoke, "There's only one playground Donna, where are you?"

Donna blinked, turning back to her view previous, feeling a tad confused, "Are you having me on? I'm standing on the basketball court, looking at the playground."

Captain Jack Harkness sighed, "Donna, you're not."

"Yeah, Captain Kirk, I am. But where the hell are you?"

There was an intake of breath as the Captain came to his conclusion, "Aw, damn."

"What?" Both Donna and Martha demanded simultaneously.

There was an uneasy silence from Jack before he asked her in one big rush, "Donna, in between the flats and the road, directly ahead. Is there a large new building looming above?"

Donna frowned but turned and looked in the said direction, the sky above the road empty. She sucked in a breath of frustration, "No, there's no building, what the hell are you..." her eyes caught sight of a large construction site at the end of the far road and a large sign just visible from this distance that read, _Hawthorne Apartments: Coming Soon._

Realisation hit, "Oh, oh god."

She finally understood what he was yabbering on about. Spinning around quickly, desperate for inspiration, she ran across to the apartment complex, charging up the first flight of stairs as Jack demanded in her ear, "Donna, what year is it?"

"Oh, god, I don't know!" she wailed, running across to the nearest door, "Hang on!"

Slipping the phone, still open, into her pocket, she gave the door three sharp raps, bouncing on the balls of her feet before someone finally answered.

"Can I help you?" the balding middle aged man asked, standing there with his glasses and grey cardigan.

Donna put on her best public relations smile, "Why hello there," she said calmly, all the while aware of the open phone still in her pocket, "_So_ sorry for the intrusion; but would you be able to tell me the date?"

She smiled hopefully at the man as he blinked at her for a moment, finally replying, "Umm…it's December 27th."

Donna nodded understandably, feeling frustration build as the man continued to stare at her, completely bewildered, "Really?" she bit her lip, "Ahh, sorry, about this, and I'm not mad, truly, I'm not, but…what year would that be?"

The man looked at her as if he clearly thought she was most definitely mad, before finally clearing his throat and, having the decency to comply, said, "2005. Last time I checked."

Donna groaned, pulling the cell-phone from her pocket, already turning away when the man finally took a step over the threshold, a finger raised in question, "Excuse me, but, who are you?"

Donna paused, the phone half way to her ear before she put a hand over it and turned back to the poor confused man, grasping for an excuse, "Ah, yes, thanks for that. I'm just, I…work with the Alzheimer's Association. Random checks on everyone over forty five. Nothing to worry about sir, you passed. Thanks."

And before he had chance to object Donna was charging back down the stairs, the phone back at her ear, "Captain Kirk?"

"Harkness," Jack said with a sigh, "It's Harkness."

"Yeah, whatever. 2005. I'm in 2005. December 27th."

Jack sucked in a sharp breath before finally letting it out and slowly formulating a plan, "That's cutting it a bit fine. So there's no sign of the TARDIS? You sure?"

Donna rolled her eyes, "Big Blue Police Box, yeah, no, I wouldn't have missed it." she said sarcastically.

"And no sign of the Doctor?"

"No... hold on, I'm confused, aren't you with the Doctor?"

"He spent some time at the estate Christmas '05, don't want to cross any timelines." Jack sighed, which didn't really answer the question and Donna got the unnerving feeling that he was avoiding answering it properly.

She raced out of the apartment building, out to the basketball court and collapsed onto a park bench.

Gazing around with distaste, thoroughtly fed up with being messed around by the Doctor, she demanded down the phone, "So, do I have to wait around for three years or are you lot coming to get me?"

* * *

**Next chapter is already finished. It will be up in the next few days.**


	4. The Powell Estate

**I have to say, this is my favourite chapter yet. It just...worked in the end. Thank you to the many people who have given me warm fuzzies so far, your reward is as follows...  
**

* * *

_27th December 2005_

* * *

Jackie Tyler was pulling apart the Christmas tree when a low wailing noise vibrated through the air. Most people would have ignored it, maybe stuck a finger in their ear and wiggled it slightly, cleaning out the earwax and then continued with what they were doing. Some people would have mistaken the sound for an elephant slowly and painfully taking its last breath and they'd probably have feel confused as to why an elephant was apparently dying in the middle of a Council Estate in South East London.

But these people were used to it, because, for the residents of the Powell Estate, this noise was a regular occurrence and they had quiet simply given up trying to figure out what on earth this it was.

But Jackie Tyler could identify the source of this sound, having listened to it as she waved goodbye to her only daughter, a strange man in long brown coat and a large blue police box, just two days previously.

Although she knew timing was a strange thing to depend on when it came to the appearance of the Doctor's machine, they had only been gone two days. She knew it could have very well been two years for them but the first thing that popped into her head was that Rose was coming home. She didn't want to be with this strange new Doctor and had finally decided to come back home.

Subconsciously, Jackie knew that Rose would stay with the Doctor forever, regardless of who he was and would be, but a large part of her wished they had had a horrible falling out and she never wanted to see him ever again.

Which meant Jackie would never be left behind again, stuck at home, alone, without her daughter. With thoughts like these at the forefront of her mind she threw the plastic pine branch into the cardboard box, jumped over said box and raced to the door, wrenching it open and standing out on the balcony, leaning over the rail, looking down, searching for the TARDIS.

"Jackie!"

Her head whipped up as Mickey called her name and she looked across to his building directly opposite to see that he too was leaning over his nearly nonexistent balcony, having hear that familiar noise also.

"Where is it?" she hollered over to him, her voice carrying over the wind and only just audible by Mickey.

He shrugged, glanced around once more, gestured at her down to the ground below then disappeared back inside.

Jackie frowned and took the stairs two at a time, meeting Mickey in the courtyard outside, both of them glancing around desperately, moving towards the playground.

"I swore I heard it." Mickey said, turning on the spot, glancing around before looking up to the sky.

"Maybe we're going mad." Jackie said with a sigh, walking around to the end of Mickey's building and glancing around the corner.

"We'd be going mad together." Mickey replied absently as Jackie pulled out her cellphone and rang her daughter's number.

"Rose, sweetheart, where are you?"

"MUM! What's wrong, wait...NO! Doctor!"

There was a bang in the background then a long deathly silence, a rumbling of static and Rose returned back to the phone, now sounding slightly breathless, "Mum, what is it? Is everything okay?"

Jackie felt herself becoming increasingly confused, "Are you back home? Mickey and I though we..."

"No, we're..._what_? We're...hang on," her voice muffled for a moment, "where are we Doctor?"

In the background Jackie heard a distant reply then Rose translated, "The Eda...Edajion Constalation, we're eight thousand years away! Mum, I'm sorry, I can't really talk right now, can I call you back..."

"Rose!" came the Doctor's voice in the background, "Rose, run!"

There was a shriek and Jackie couldn't be sure who it had come from, growing desperately concerned as something huge then snarled loudly in the background.

Jackie found herself shouting down the phone, Mickey watching her, looking increasingly worried, "Rose, Rose, sweetheart! Can you hear me?"

More static then the Doctor's voice spoke, "She'll have to call you back, Jackie."

And the line went dead.

Jackie stared at the phone for a moment, then glanced up at Mickey, tears springing up in her eyes, "She's eight thousand years away."

A sob escaped her and automatically Mickey pulled her into a hug.

* * *

Donna had never been so happy to hear a sound in her life. She raced a hundred meters or so, past a middle-aged blonde shouting down a phone and a black man standing anxiously next to her. Donna ignored their obvious anguish and darted around the corner of the flats where, sure enough, just like he said it would, tucked in the corner between a rubbish skip and two graffiti strewn walls was the TARDIS in all it's glory. The door opened before she had a chance to pull out her key and Martha appeared, a relieved smile on her face as she saw Donna before her, "Oh god, you had me worried!"

Donna grinned at her and they hugged briefly but tightly, "Please tell me you can shed some light into my bafflement? Where's the Doctor?"

"We don't know." Came a voice behind Martha and Donna looked up to see a tall impressive man dressed in a military coat leaning against the doorframe, a grim expression on his face.

Donna eyed him carefully, "What do you mean, _you don't know_?"

The man ignored her and pushed past them both, gazing out at the estate, hands deep in his pockets.

Martha gave Donna an apologetic smile, "Donna Noble, let me introduce you to Captain Jack Harkness."

Jack made no move to acknowledge Donna, his gaze focused out on the estate.

Jack was saved a Donna speech on manners when a woman stumbled out of the TARDIS behind them, pointing back over her shoulder looking rather shell shocked, "There are more rooms in there, it just seems to go on forever."

A male in a crisp black suit followed after her, peering out from behind the door, and spoke in a deep Welsh accent matching the woman's, "I found that hand of yours in there, Jack. All this time and it was the Doctor's."

He sighed and lent against the wood panelling of the TARDIS, immediately standing upright again when he noticed Donna, "Oh, ah, hello there, you must be…"

Martha took her cue, "Donna Noble. Donna, this is Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper."

Ianto held out a hand and Donna shook it awkwardly, asking, "So who are you two then?"

Gwen surveyed Donna warily then glanced at Jack, who had his back to them, "We work with Jack, for Torchwood."

Donna digested this bit of information then quickly rounded on Martha, "Hold up, I thought we were anti-Torchwood. The Doctor said…"

Martha interjected with a snort, waving a hand airily, "Oh, the Doctor's completely anti-establishment in general, haven't you heard half of his stories? Torchwood this, UNIT that, have you listened to the one about the Boon Corporation on Kestreline? Trust me, don't get him started on Kestreline."

Donna grinned, having unfortunately already heard the story various times to various exaggerations.

"Kestreline…is that a planet?" Ianto asked. He cleared his throat, "It's just that this my first trip in space and time and I was half expecting to at least end up on another continent. Another planet would have been nice. But by the looks of things, we ended up in…"

Jack finished Ianto's sentence, without turning, still looking at something out on the estate, "…the Powell Estate, South East London."

"London." Ianto repeated flatly. He sighed then gave a shrug, "Well, we work in Cardiff, I suppose I can't complain."

Martha gave Ianto a look, "Nothing wrong with Cardiff; lots of things to do in Cardiff." she glanced at Jack and asked, "So what next?"

Jack still didn't turn around, "Well, like the Doctor said, we're only allowed to worry about him once she's safe. She's _moderately_ safe now, so….." he trailed off, finally turning to glance at Martha.

Martha opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Donna, glaring daggers at Jack, "_She_..!" Donna exclaimed in indignation, "I don't know where you get off mate but I have a name! Donna," she stuck out her hand, "Donna Noble. Nice to meet you too, Captain!"

Martha bit her lip, hiding a grin and both Ianto and Gwen looked shocked. Jack finally glanced at her, a twitching smile on his face, and slowly took her hand, shaking it, "It's a pleasure, Donna. A real pleasure."

Donna glared at him for a moment then relaxed, "Well, that was only _slightly_ condescending so I'll let it slide. Now, can someone please tell me what _actually_ happened to the Doctor?"

Jack looked almost apologetic, as if he was afraid to say anything at all in case it set her off, "We were actually hoping you would tell us."

Donna blinked at him, "What do you mean…" she looked horrified, "I don't know anything." She looked from Jack to Ianto to Gwen to Martha, "Is the Doctor seriously gone? One minute we were in the control room, he's on the floor, waving his screwdriver under the grate when suddenly, I'm here!"

Jack sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, "He sent the TARDIS to me; empty, with a message. Find you." He shrugged and graced her with warm smile, "So I found you."

"And now we go and find him." Said Gwen simply.

Martha snorted and Jack shook his head, a soft laugh escaping. Donna huffed, causing her hair to fly up haphazardly before she took pity on Gwen so explained, "You make it sound so, very _very_ simple. Tell you what, I'll give you a little bit of worthwhile advise. Nothing is ever..."

"…ever..." Jack added in for emphasis.

"...simple with the Doctor." Donna concluded.

Martha laughed warily, turning to the matter at hand, "Where were you then, Donna, had you landed anywhere?"

Donna leant herself against the wall and shook her head, "No, we were in the vortex, must have been. We weren't going anywhere in particular, just…"  
"Aimlessly wandering?" Jack asked

Donna shrugged, "He muttered something about in flight modulating."

Martha frowned, "So, if Donna were sent here, the TARDIS was sent to you Jack…then the Doctor was sent..."  
"Anywhere or when in time and space." Jack finished with a sigh.

"But why was I sent here?" Donna asked finally.

Jack smiled, a true grin on his face, and pointed out across the courtyard, "Because of them."

The other four followed his gaze to see the couple Donna had run past earlier; a middle aged woman with a large chest and dyed blonde hair and then a young black man, hair cut short, nearly nonexistent who had now pulled the woman into a tight hug; she crying and the man looking deject and worried.

"Who are they?" Gwen asked.

Jack sighed and took a long moment to respond, "That's them. That's Mickey Smith and..." his voice trailed off for a moment before he exclaimed suddenly, "ROSE!"

Donna frowned, slightly taken back and Martha looked from the middle aged blonde, to Jack, then back at the woman.

"That's Rose?" she finally demanded, unable to believe this woman, looking like any other average, everyday person in the street; dyed blonde hair, cheap clothes and heaving chest, could really be the legendary Rose Tyler.

Jack snorted half-heartedly and shook his head, his face pale, "No, that's her mother."

His eyes were focused straight past Jackie and Mickey, under the large oak tree next to the playground and to the person standing under it, "That's Rose."

He grinned, mesmerised by the young blonde girl, dressed casually in jeans and a tight blue jacket, her gaze intent on her mother and her boyfriend comforting each other in the courtyard.

Martha surveyed the girl for a moment, only slightly more impressed with her than the girl's mother. She looked young, slightly younger than Martha herself and she had that fake blonde hair matching her mother's, not quite as large of a chest but she was dressed simply and if Jack hadn't have spotted her out, Martha would never had guessed. For as long as she had known the Doctor, this Rose Tyler had sat on the captain seat in the TARDIS, always in between Martha and the Doctor, a sense of lost majesty about this girl who had stolen the Lord of Time's hearts. And there she now was. Just a sad little lost girl, standing under a tree with a longing look on her face as she stared at the people of her past. This couldn't actually be Rose Tyler, really?

Martha found herself fumbling for logical reason, for justification that Jack was wrong, "But the Doctor said she was trapped, trapped on another world."

"It's impossible." Jack whispered to himself, ignoring her, intent on Rose, "She can't be here, she just can't."

Martha shook her head, coming up to stand next to Jack, a hand on his shoulder. "That might be the Rose from this time. The old Rose."

Jack shook his head, a small grin beginning to stretching itself over his features, "She's travelling with the Doctor now. As Donna said; that Doctor's not here, so that Rose isn't here either."

He broke off and glanced at the four of them at his side, "That's _the_ Rose Tyler." he shook his head again, "But it's impossible."

Donna Noble grinned, a bubble of raw excitement slowly building inside her, threatening to spill at any moment as she glanced at Rose; _the_ Rose, then back at Jack, finally managing to breathe, "Oh, silly, it's not impossible; just a bit unlikely."

* * *

Rose Tyler drew her eyes away from her mother and Mickey and glanced back at where she had spotted the TARDIS earlier, startled to find Captain Jack Harkness staring right back at her, grinning at her from across the courtyard.

And no matter what was happening, no matter what she knew was yet to come, Rose couldn't help herself.

She grinned back.

No, she positively beamed back.

* * *

**Next chapter is the Doctor and Rose!!**

**Not together mind you, that had you going there for a mo, sorry! **

**Hopefully we'll get there in the end. Hopefully, but you never really know what might happen?? ;)  
**

* * *


	5. Ten Slash Rose

**Final post before my trip to England, I'm one sure excited Kiwi girl! Shame we're slightly too soon for Hamlet though, we're going to another RSC show instead. Ah well. Since this is based from Turn Left onwards it's officially AU from now.**

* * *

"Right, let's see what we have down here."

The Doctor laid himself flat on his stomach and peered through his glasses down under the TARDIS grate, his old torch flashing red on top of his head. He was actually waiting for Donna to pass comment on how ridiculous he looked, maybe dish out a few of her rather stellar insults. Noting how odd it was that there was, in fact, no such comment from Donna, the Doctor made the wise decision not to jinx it and, taking her rare silence in his stride, he continued with a sniff as if he hadn't noticed, "It's going to be spectacularly difficult to get down there because, by the looks of things I need to pull apart the old regulator." He sighed and waved the sonic screwdriver half-heartedly at said regulator, an object that seemed as boring and unimportant as the other various pieces of junk that had accumulated down under the grate over the years. Yet the regulator was actually, among other things, rather essential in the day to day running of things. Not, _bang_-and-the-TARDIS-falls-through-space-and-time sort of essential, but essential in the sense of, for instance, without it, the TARDIS would lose its under floor heating. And according to Donna (the Doctor hadn't really noticed), it was, quote, "bloody freezing walking around barefoot in this stupid police box.' Upon hearing this, the Doctor had casually told her that maybe the TARDIS wasn't the best place to walk barefoot and, quite honestly, he was rather good at accidently on purpose leaving painfully inappropriate things on the floor after he had finished tinkering. Argo, no bare feet, no cold feet and, shoes (or at least slippers) worn onboard meant that everyone concerned could avoid throbbing big toes that would swell to double their normal size and make running for your life particularly painful. Not that the Doctor spoke from experience or anything.

Further arguing led now to the Doctor's position on the floor with Donna sitting on the captain's seat behind him, waving her foot (thankfully shoed,) in the air impatiently.

"I hope you appreciate this," the Doctor told her, his cheek slap bang against the metal grate, which, he did admit, was a bit chilly to the touch, "I haven't clambered down there in a good hundred years and, _oh_, I do hate to spoil a good suit."

He sat up on his elbows and sighed, "What would really be handy is a scrap-yard. Not a normal scrap-yard mind, not in this case; but a scrap-yard from at least…_oooh_, the 72nd Century?"

He aimed the sonic carefully at the pressurised gauge on the regulator, temporarily fixing it as the possibilities emerged, "Tell you what Donna, we'll go even further. New Earth, brilliant, it's very nearly a tradition. I can get the parts I need there. And you'll love it, really…as long as we avoid everything feline."

He gave the regulator a final zap then propelled himself into a kneeling position, pulling off his glasses, "And maybe I can pick up some new partisional modules while I'm at it too," he nodding to himself, "yeah...do you wanna give me a hand up, I'm honestly not as young as I used to be."

He turned, outstretching his hand and wiggled his fingers in the direction of the captain's seat where Donna had been sitting. The seat was now empty.

The Doctor's hand dropped to his side, "Donna?'

Silence.

He lurched to his feet with a sigh, realising she had got bored of him and wandered off. It was amazing as to how often this happened with his companions. Human's to be presise, Donna in particular. Rose and Martha had been patient enough to stick with him most of the time and nod in all the right places, only walking away when he started retelling rants of old. With Donna he frequently found himself in public suddenly talking to no one as she had given up trying to understand him and had found some cheap scarves, (apparently far more interesting than the history behind the Rutans and the Sontarans), for sale for only eight Pluron dollars. Now she had buggered off while he was fixing the regulator. Never mind the aliens who had threatened to destroy her planet, no, she had walked off while he was fixing the underfloor heating...for her!

"Donna, oh, come on, really. You're the one that likes toasty soles!"

With a groan he wiped his hands on his trousers and spinning the sonic screwdriver in his hand he bounded towards the internal console room door.

He grasped said door as one would, people open doors everyday, nothing major. He himself was more than capable, so when he gave it a yank and it nearly dislocated his shoulder, the door not budging an inch, he glared at it a second, knowing this had nothing to do with his door opening skills so yanked it again to no obvious lasting effect.

Realising that he couldn't really blame the door itself, rather the machine it was attatched to, his eyes shifted to the ceiling, "Really, what have I done wrong now?" the Doctor demanded of the TARDIS, "I'm fixing the regulator, doesn't that merit some…."

He froze mid sentence as he realised he wasn't getting anything resembling a response from the TARDIS. She was always there in his mind, humming gently and giving him a little mental nudge when he was down or just plain confused. But now, mentally reaching out, he couldn't sense anything at all. It was almost if; no, it _was_ as if one part of his own consciousness was missing. This vast abyss sat unpleasantly in his mind, his tendrils reaching out seemingly echoing and rebounding in the nothingness.

Panic was an unusual sensation for the Doctor yet panic is what he felt as, eyes widening in dawning horror he slowly stumbled backwards, pupils glued to the ceiling, mouth slack. Very nearly tripping over the grate ledge he spun and fell towards the console, grabbing and pulling the monitor with him before he righted himself and gave it a sharp tap.

The screen went green then began flashing in Gallifreyan, the symbols changing far too quick for him to read or even identify, before the monitor narrowed and went black.

The Doctor could only blinked for a moment, before, as one does when a television isn't working, he banged the screen again ignoring the sharp throbbing now pulsating through his hand.

As with a television, banging the screen didn't help. The monitor remained blank.

Instead he changed the setting on the sonic screwdriver and whirred it over the keyboard.

Nothing happened.

Glancing from the controls to the central column, the time rotor still going, he slotted the sonic into a space in the console and pulled down on the handbrake.

Nothing happened.

Processing things in quick concession was something the Doctor was good at, it was part of his job description, yet now that stupid thing called panic got in the way and it took a few seconds longer than usual to work it out. He was apparently trapped in the console room. He hadn't tried the exterior door but had an inkling it wouldn't be any less unstuck as the interior. The time rotor was still moving yet the TARDIS was non responsive. If the TARDIS was non responsive then the time rotor couldn't be working.

Yet it was. The lights were still up and blazing, the up and down movement of the column suggested they were still be moving but, slight technical glitch, the TARDIS couldn't actually work if; well, if the TARDIS wasn't there. The Doctor was in the TARDIS, yet, he could have been in Timbuktu for all he knew because he couldn't actually feel the TARDIS. It simply wasn't there.

Hence the conclusion that, "This…this is…this isn't the TARDIS."

And on top of this revelation, Donna had seemingly gone missing.

* * *

In the grand design of things, it was actually the Doctor that was missing and Donna Noble who was surrounded by faces the Doctor longed to see again; more specifically the face of one Rose Tyler. Donna looked from Jack, to Rose, to Jack again and couldn't help but snort at the comical matching grins plastered over their faces as the two old friends finally spotted one another across the courtyard.

Jack longed to just run over there and god, he didn't know. He wanted to hug her, he wanted to kiss her, but at the same time he was wary. How was she here? Was she the same Rose he had once known? Was she even Rose? It was sad that at a time like this he thought like that but Jack had come to the realisation that you couldn't really trust anyone. Definitely not your brother and maybe not the girl you loved.

Separating them were Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith, two people who mustn't ever realise either Rose or Jack were there. And Jack was slightly grateful for that, it gave him a chance to calculate and evaluate what exactly was going on here, what exactly was the best move now and, noted, it was also best to avoid paradoxes when necessary as was the general rule to time travel. He didn't really need two more confused companions, a mother and an ex-boyfriend of all things, demanded answers in his ear as well as everyone else.

Rose was shrugging across the courtyard at him, gesturing apologetically at her mother and her boyfriend and Jack absently shrugged back, still transfixed by her appearance.

"How is she here?" Martha finally asked, her voice startling him as he had plainly forgotten them all behind him, Donna beaming, Martha frowning and Gwen and Ianto looking confused and left in out; which wasn't really fair. They didn't belong in this mess, they'd just lost Owen and Tosh and...hold on, had Gwen even called Rhys? It was all too much to think about. Jack knew he had the rather lovely task of rescuing the Last of the Timelord's from whatever dark dangerous pit he had fallen into, not to mention the love of said Timelord's life had just impossibly popped back into existence and yet, here he was, Captain Jack Harkness, worrying about Gwen's husband? He couldn't help but snort at himself as he and his posse watched Rose pull out what looked to be a pocket watch from her jacket before glancing at it and biting her lip, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet.

He could only shake his head at Martha's question, having run out of answers even before they'd begun, "Maybe she can answer that for you."

He turned his attention back to Rose and frowned at her in question, arms raised in the air in confusion. She sighed and shook her head, tapping her wrist impatiently.

It seemed to take an age before Jackie and Mickey had their little moment and broke apart, Mickey wrapping an arm around Jackie's shoulders, steering her towards the flats, glancing over his own shoulder absently, both Jack and Rose ducking back as his gaze swept over their hiding places. Jack could only stand there in frozen horror as Mickey's gaze lingered on the oak tree and the trunk Rose was hiding behind for a second too long. Jackie carried on moving, unaware of Mickey's distraction as Mickey squinted at the trunk suspiciously, cocking his head slightly as if he had seen something he knew shouldn't be there. He took a step towards the tree, paused, glanced back at Jackie and sighed, shaking his head warily and followed her retreating back towards the flats.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief and Rose ducked out from behind the tree as soon as Mickey had disappeared from view. Jack made to move across to her but she held up her hand, signalling him to wait, before glancing up from under the shade of the tree up to the balcony of the flats. A moment later a door slammed and Rose grinned in relief, glancing at the pocket watch again before jogging quite calmly over to where they stood as if she ran across them everyday.

"Hey, you lot."

They were the first words Jack heard Rose Tyler speak since that fateful day on the Games Station. It was a bit anti-climatic really. She seemed perfectly casual, if only a little bit anxious, almost if she had other things to think about and she just wanted to get this over with. She hadn't aged much, but she had an authority about her, as if she wasn't just the companion anymore, she didn't need to run after anyone. They needed to run after her.

It all made Jack feel very uneasy as Rose continued to speak, ignoring the fact they were all staring at her as if she was a ghost. Well she was a ghost really, to this world long since dead, "I need to be quick," she said, giving their blank faces a sympathetic look, "sorry, really, but only have about seven minutes. Well, actually," she corrected herself with a wave of her hand, "I just wasted two of them, so five minutes, I only have five minutes."

She paused, waiting for someone to speak, turning to Jack when they did not, "Come on, let's talk inside the TARDIS. I don't want Mum and Mickey to nip back outside and spot us."

"Rose…"

Jack breathed her name and reached his hand out to her face, pausing slightly before cupping her chin gently, the warm skin his hand met giving him ample evidence that she was not a ghost, not a hologram, not an echo, still, he couldn't help but ask, "Is that really you?"

Rose stared at him for a moment, mingled emotions on her face before she took a breath and relaxed slightly, the intense impatience slipping slightly as she looking up at him with a familiar wide smile, "Yeah, it's me. Hi."

He swallowed dryly, just managing to respond with a matching, "Hi,"

She suppressed a small giggle at the small twitch of a smile beginning to appear on the side of his face and without further ado grabbed his hand and dragged him back towards the TARDIS, "Come on, in."

He stumbled after her as she pulled out a key from under her jacket and open the door of the TARDIS. Any other doubt that this wasn't Rose was gone as the TARDIS gave a warm hum, you could even call it a sigh of contentment, as Rose stepped over the threshold. She bounded forward as everybody else stepped in after her and reached the console, patted it warmly, "I missed you too."

Jack shook his head with a fair amount of wonder, at a loss of what to say, weakly introducing her to everyone at a lack of anything better to say, "Ahh..., Ianto, Gwen, Martha, Donna, this is Rose Tyler."

Donna blinked at her then gave a small squeal and clapped her hands together, "Really? Really truly…..oh, this is _brilliant!_ He's going to be over the moon. I want to hug you, no, I need to hug you."

Rose snorted, "One must never say no to hugs."

She stepped forward and the two woman held each other for a moment, each grinning like a meercat, "But he won't be able to jump over any moons ever again if we don't find him." Jack nudged Donna out of the way and embracing Rose properly, "Oh, I've missed you." He pulled back and, keeping his hands on her shoulders, surveyed her carefully, "And I have to admit, the timing couldn't have been better."

"Oh, I know, I am good. Well, actually, I missed it at first, ended up a few months back, outside Adipose Industries….nice job by the way." She added to Donna, "But I got here in the end."

"Hold on, I don't get it?" It was a question from Donna, not really a statement and Martha had one of her own to add, "How did you know the Doctor was missing?"

Martha Jones had her eyebrows raised, unable to define what exactly she was feeling. Her little thing with the Doctor was long since over but she couldn't help being suspisious of this 'other woman'. On one hand she had appeared out of nowhere with no real explanation, seemingly quiet at ease about the whole thing. Secondly, Rose Tyler, wasn't really all that impressive. Martha rather felt she had got all jealous for nothing. Regardless, she could still feel the green eyed monster at the back of her mind.

Rose had glanced at the pocket watch again, waving a hand airily at their questions, " I don't have time to be all enigmatic and mysterious…basically, I've been here, done this. Fast forward a few months and there you'll find me. Paradoxes abound me coming here but that's the point. I have something to tell you."

Martha spoke the obvious, "You're from the future."

Rose nodded, "I need you to do something. Actually, Ianto," she spun to face him, he blinked, startled, "I need _you_ to do something."

"I don't even know you."

Rose looked slightly smug, slightly proud, "Ah, but I know you. Ianto Jones, you were there Torchwood Tower, Canary Wharf. You lost your girlfriend that day, even if you didn't realise it until months later. But you've moved on," she eyed Jack with a knowing look, and gave him a slight wag of her finger "you have loved and you have lost and, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I need you to go back."

"What?" Ianto looked a trifle uncomfortable at the amount of attention suddenly drawn to him.

"I need you to go back to Canary Wharf. I need you to unlock the breach."

"Rose, you are kidding me!" Jack was looking at her in horror.

"It's the only way to get me back."

Jack simply blinked at her, a mixture of longing and sympathy on his face, "Rose, you know we can't...the Doctor wouldn't, even for you..."

She snorted, "Oh, I know that..._bang_ and two universes collapse, no, I'm not asking you to _open_ the breach, just unlock it."

Jack wasn't having it, "We don't know enough about the breach. We..."

"...you don't know what will happen." Rose cut in, "I do. Been there, done that, remember? This is a win win situation actually. Find me and you're able to find the Doctor. Sorta killing two birds with one stone really."

Several seconds of ringing slience followed this statement before Donna spoke, "You know how to get the Doctor back?" she exclaimed "Well just _flipping_ tell us then!"

Rose sighed, looking like she would like nothing better to do just that, "I can't," she said regretfully, "spoilers Donna, spoilers, I can only..._nudge_ you in the right direction."

"And that, per chance, coincides with rescuing you?" Martha asked doubtfully.

Rose sighed opened her mouth, raising her finger beforet thinking better of it and decidedly ignored Martha's accusation, turning to Ianto, "So, you know how to work the controls?"

Ianto nodded slowly, not sure what he was getting himself into, "Yes, the basics. But it's been two years, everything's been dismantled or destroyed..."

Rose shook her head impatiently, "They didn't touch anything in the breach room, trust me, it was too unstable. Everything's still intact."

Ianto surveyed Rose for a moment, trying to decide whether to put his trust in her. Eventually agreeing with what he saw, he nodded, "Well, if it needs to be done, I can do it."

He glanced at Jack for confirmation and Jack sighed, "Okay, so then what? Rose, I'm sorry but the Doctor is the prority...

"Trust me Jack, please. The Doctor is simple a blind leap of faith away. The void has been active as of late. All you have to do is unlock it and the TARDIS will be drawn in. Then, well..."

"Yeah, so the TARDIS is stuck in this void...then what?" Martha asked

Ianto shook his head warily, "It's not as simple as that Martha," he told her softly, "the void is...well, the void...the void is hell."

"WHAT?" Donna demanded

"So your plan is to send us into hell?" Martha asked Rose angrily.

Rose beamed at her, "Martha Jones. I never did say thank you. Thank you for what you did."

"What did I do?" Martha demanded

"You kept him going. You and Donna. You kept him alive. And now look at you. A doctor, an engaged doctor. An engaged doctor working for UNIT. Whatever happened in this stupid blue box," she patted the console apologetically, "it's been an experience no matter what happened, fobwatches and broken hearts, a year that never was. Whatever you may think of me Martha, I'm not going to trap you all in hell, you deserve better than that, you all do. Sit tight and I'll work things out on my end. An eternity in hell is not my grand plan for you."

Jack really really wanted to say that this was all fine and dandy and let go of his official obligation and just run with this crazy almost nonexistant plan. But Jack Harkness had been in charge for far to long now, it was who he was and sadly, he couldn't just follow the word of his favourite blonde girl without consideration, not like he use to, "I have to say Rose, this doesn't sound very promising."

Rose turned to him with pleading eyes, "Jack trust me. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey." A small smile returned to her face at that, "I know it will work 'cause, well, I've already done it."

Gwen Cooper felt very overwhelmed by all of this, not really part of this world. Yet she was the only one that could take a critical step back and view all the facts before, "I'm sorry, Jack, but this is stupid. We can't put blind faith in what she says, we just can't. It simply sounds like she wants her own ass saved, never mind the Doctor."

Rose sighed and glanced at the pocket watch again, stepping nimly out of the conversation as Jack rounded on Gwen, a spark of anger erupting, "Firstly, don't presume Rose values her own 'ass' over anyone elses...regardless of how nice that ass is."

He smiled sweetly at Rose and she simply rolled her eyes.  
"Second," Jack said, turning back to Gwen, "I'm nearly a hundred and fifty years old. And out of that existance, if I had to put blind faith in anyone, any entity in this universe or the others...it would be one Rose Marion Tyler...oh," he shrugged absently, "and I suppose the Doctor deserves notable mention too."

He grinned at Rose and she blushed, "Thanks Jack."

They stared across at each other, things left unsaid, times not shared, all convayed in a single look. With reluctance Rose dragged her eyes away and pulled out her watch again, "Damn it, I've only got about ten seconds."

"Time to go, is it?"

"Yeah, see you soon Captain."

Jack opened his mouth, closed it, sighed and tried again, "Rose, you're from the future...so where are you now?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "I can't tell you that, Jack."

He surveyed her for a moment then realised, "But you're smiling."

Rose's smile stretched even further at it's mention, a twinkle in her eye, "Well yeah, I am."

She gave a little content sigh then frowned and glanced down at her hand to see it wavering in and out of existence, "Ah well," she sighed as her image began to fade, "Time's up, off you go…and off I go."

Then she disappeared.

* * *

Five minutes later Mickey Smith raced out of the flat and nearly threw himself off the balcony as he heard the great engines grind into life once again. Two times in quarter of an hour, well; regardless of the idiot that Mickey was, he logically realised it must have been the real thing for him to hear it twice, and just maybe he hadn't been hallucinating when he had spotted Rose out of the corner of his eye hiding under the old oak tree.

"Mickey, do you want some of these macaroon biscuits?"

Jackie, bless her, hadn't heard it the second time and Mickey didn't want to worry her.

Glaring suspiciously out at the estate, he sighed and reluctantly let it be, returning back inside, his mind on the blonde girl under the tree.

"Yeah, I'd love some, Jackie."

The front door shut on Flat 29 of Bucknell House and what with the bat people, tin dogs and dead mice; the next time Mickey Smith saw Rose Tyler he had quite forgotten about the strange happenings that day. Life chasing after the Doctor did that to you.

* * *


End file.
